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ashleyrenee
Hello!

My name is Ashley, I recently graduated from the University of Oregon with a bachelors degree in General Science. My entire life I've had the mind set that after college came either a job, or more school both ideas that did not sound amusing to me. So I am going on a 8-10 week excursion with my boyfriend and some friends to Europe! this will be my first time leaving the country and believe it or not only my second time flying in a plane. (my first time was only a year ago.) So I am extremely new at traveling which is why I am determined to not be one of those who go and spend a lot of money on the tourist things but rather someone who enjoys the real experience, culture and people.

So if anyone has any great tips let me know! We are going with only a "rough" itinerary we want to be able to have flexibility. As of now we know we are flying into Zurich early September and our only reservations as of now are Oct 3-6th in Munich for the last weekend of Oktoberfest (that's around my birthday so its my birthday present to myself.) Then from there we are kind of making a circle to include northern Germany, Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris, Toulouse, Madrid, Lesboa, Barcelona, Nice, Cinqua Terra, Florence, Rome, Southern Italy, then Croatia.

I really want to be able to go to Morocco and parts of Africa as well, but thats depending on time. I am really not interested in being indoors, although there are some Cathedrals, Castels, and Museums I do want to see I mostly want to be able to hike, climb, walk, and venture into the scenery. I am an avid hiker, climber, and wilderness lover so I intend on seeing those aspects of Europe before the indoor stuff.


Best,
Ashley
aopaq
Welcome to TP Ashley!

It sounds like you indeed have a wonderful journey ahead of you and I am sure you will have an awesome time. You have already incorporated one of the most widely mentioned tips (be flexible) into your itinerary which is great.

If you want any more ideas, I would suggest you search the topics in the Europe thread for possible info on "off the beaten track" places you may want to see and the Travel Tips thread where you find lots of useful information about scams to be aware of, how to deal with money and even how not to look like an American tourist. Finally, in the Travel Gear and Gadgets thread there is lots of info if you are thinking about buying a backpack, want to find another hidden way to carry your passport or want to know how to access TP from abroad.

Finally, we have Local Experts on TP who are more than happy to answer any country specific questions you may have. The list of these folk can be found here.

Hope this helps!
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